Notes
Recovered 23.08.2023 from https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2947214/g-bollen/
SERJEANT G BOLLEN
Service Number: 52969
Royal Engineers
Date of Death 01 May 1916
Buried PIDDLETRENTHIDE (ALL SAINTS) CHURCHYARD North-West of Church
SERGEANT GEORGE BOLLEN (Piddletrenthide), Royal Engineers
http://www.piddlevalley.info/history_great_war.php#10
Stand with your back to the tower of All Saints Church. Half-right is a yew tree and underneath it, near the churchyard boundary, is a white headstone. It bears the following inscription:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF SERGT. GEORGE BOLLEN, R.E. WHO DIED 1ST MAY 1916, AGED 45 YEARS. PEACE, PERFECT PEACE.
The 1891 Census records George Bollen, age 20, wheelwright (From the book "Remembering Piddletrenthide", by Bridget and Dave Bowen). He became a pre-war regular soldier serving in the Royal Engineers and rose to the rank of Sergeant. Given his civilian trade he would have had the right expertise in an army which relied on horse-drawn transport.
In March 1916, Sergt. Bollen was discharged as medically unfit for service and he died two months later. The fact that his illness was not caused by war service and that he had been discharged meant that his name does not appear on the official list 'Soldiers Died in the Great War'.